Hello this is a topic I want to discuss with all the musicians on this website. I can't seem to place an opinion over this dilemma that has always segregated musicians since the beginning of sight reading.

Some musicians that can’t read a note of music, but can play on tunes for days using their ears. Conversely, many classical musicians can read for days and days, but ask them to improvise and the room becomes silent. It's difficult to place an opinion over what is more valuable for a musician.

My experience is: (It's a little long so I'll spoil it if you don't want to read it.)

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

Since I was 12, I've learned how to read music. I was in my school's band and learned the alto saxophone. It took me a lot of effort to learn how to read music. After 3 months I learned, and my band teacher and piano teacher have mentioned that I have a great ability to sight read.

Well when I was 15 and had 3 years of experience with my alto sax my cousin invited me to play in the church band she and a conductor had organized. For a while I declined since I felt I still needed more experience to play in a group, but she convinced me to go and I went. The conductor asked me to play anything I wanted, and you can probably sense the awkwardness of having to get my stand out, set it up, and put my sheet music. I chose to play Over the Rainbow from The Wizard of Oz and they seemed to have enjoyed what I played and I was happy.

The band consisted of a drummer, keyboard, 2 guitars, and some vocalists. I then saw none of them had sheet music. I took in hand that these people had no experience in music what so ever, and this conductor orgnaized some chords for them to play. The band played first and it sounded okay, although they were only playing a few chords and the drummer played the same beat throughout the whole song. The second song they played was practically the same but with different chords and a different beat played throughout the whole song. The conductor then looked towards me and said, "You think you can harmonize with the band through ear?" I just stood there dumbfounded. I am one of those unfortunate people to not have the talent of playing music by ear. I have learned since the beginning to sight read. I mentioned that to him, and the whole band heard. Then my cousin asked him if he could write some music for me, but I assume he didn't know how to write sheet music because he never wrote it and left after a month. Since that event I have felt so inadequate as a musician, but I've gained confidence again through my piano teacher who mentioned that sight reading makes you a musician the same as playing by ear.

So what are your thoughts and experiences over this dilemma?

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

If this is topic has already been written about please delete this. Thank you.

well i play the drums by ear. i can read a little but its not as complex as some music.. any who , my experience is one time i was doing a performance and i went a little of the music but because i am self taught i went into my own grove and styled it out , nobody heard the song before so i got away with it eheh ^_^

Well,for me, ie you want a classical piece performed, the musician that can read music would be perfect. But try to put that musician in with , say, a jazz quartet, they'd be totally lost due to lack of any sort of improvisational ability. But put a "by ear" musician in with a classical ensenble, and the same would apply, because a classical; piece is written to be played note for note as is. As a fan of several classical pieces, I expect the piece to be as familiar to me as a good pair of shoes. As to who is better, I personally prefer someone who can pick up their instrument of choice and jump right on in, no matter what we were playing at the time, so a "by ear" musician would be my choice.

Reading modern tabs is relatively simple. You just need to know what the symbols represented. Reading standard music staff notation is more difficult. I used to be able read the old style music, but all that drained out of my brain cell many years ago.

I play the Bflat Clarinet, Alto/Saprano Saxophone and Trumpet, I have played since 6th grade and even in College/University. I can read music but I will get off beat a lot for some odd reason. I just play to my own beat *shrugs* So I did a jazz band once and I was told to do an improve, from a scale....I looked so scared I am sure...I cannot improvise without music in front of me...( I know that is not improve then, but you get my point) Now I have worked on being able to improve on my own, and I have gotten better but not quite to the level I want to be. As to really answer this which I think if we had a lot of musicians this would be a good thread. I think both are great...if you can play music from your heart and soul whether that is reading it or just playing it by ear, then why should it matter? What does it matter if you have talent and can play your intsrument, or even if you do not have talent, as long as you enjoy it, does not matter. This is solely my opinion on the matter.

I've been drumming for years and participated in drumcorps and got paid to do jazz performances in high school. Personally, I can play many different instruments by ear, or by music. All improv is, as i've been told by many teachers i've had and my own personal experience, is practice. If you practice reading music you get better, If you practice mimicking a certain sound you will get better at attaining it quicker. That's all in my opinion anyway

I've been drumming for years and participated in drumcorps and got paid to do jazz performances in high school. Personally, I can play many different instruments by ear, or by music. All improv is, as i've been told by many teachers i've had and my own personal experience, is practice. If you practice reading music you get better, If you practice mimicking a certain sound you will get better at attaining it quicker. That's all in my opinion anyway

Big chunk of musical truth. You can't expect to be Paganini if you don't practice

@Frodizzle, I agree with you're point completely, and yea, it's still improv with sheet music in front of you, as long as you only use it to get the gist of the piece. =) sadly, in jazz i never play whats on the paper, it's hard as hell hahaha

Played the trombone for about 6 years, but I was never able to play anything by ear (also absolutely hated improv). I was always exceptional at sight reading, never spent more than a few minutes looking over a piece before I'd be able to play it without trying, but after high school I completely stopped playing altogether and have basically forgotten a lot of it. Someday I'd like to pick it up again though.

Spoiler Alert! Click to show or hide

My HS formed a Jazz band not too long after I started going there, and was asked to join. I figured I might as well give it a shot since it sounded like fun, and due to my position in the band I was able to join without actually needing to audition. But oh my god the first time I was asked to improv I basically sat there unable to do anything at all. Which at that point I realized that jazz wasn't the thing for me.

@Frodizzle, I agree with you're point completely, and yea, it's still improv with sheet music in front of you, as long as you only use it to get the gist of the piece. =) sadly, in jazz i never play whats on the paper, it's hard as hell hahaha

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YtjzVThkiFs&feature=related

I found this and i think everyone should listen to this and this should make the decision pretty clear...either way is good.

My teacher taught the informal way, of learning by ear. When it came to reading music, or learning scales etc, I can honestly say I have struggled to retain that information. So I still continue to learn by ear.